Method of manufacturing golf-balls.



N0. 801,610. PATENTED OGT.10,1905- E. F. ROSS. METHOD OF MANUFACTURINGGOLF BALLS.

APPLICATION TILED AUG.28. 1905.

Unrrsn s'ra rns PATENT orricn.

EDWARD F. ROSS, OF NElVARK, NElV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE PER- FECT GOLFBALL COMPANY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.. A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1905.

Application filed August 28, 1905. Serial No. 276,040.

To rr// mix/07m it 'm/w concern:

Be it known that 1, EDWARD FLnroiinR Ross, acitizen of the UnitedStates, residingin Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods ofManufacturing; Golf-Balls, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to golf-balls and the manufacture of the same,and has for its object to provide an improved construction and processof making the core of the ball, this being of the class in which thecore is built up of windings of sheet-rubber stretched closely to itselastic limit.

In making this class of balls it has been found practically verydifficult to accomplish the winding of the strip, generally of rubber,with a sufficient amount of tension therein at the extreme centralportion of the core, since in the winding operation, which is ordinarilyperformed by hand, a releasing of the tension occurs in the middleportion of the core in beginning the winding of the strip upon itself,so to speak, this release occurring before the core has become of largesize, the result being that in the finished core the central portionthereof consists of rubber pressed together until it is solid, while itstill remains in an untensioned state or condition. By means of mypresent improvement I am able to accomplish the required high tensioningof the rubber in the extreme middle portion of the core, with the resultthat a core is obtained in which practically all of the rubber is notonly under high pressure, but also is in a tense condition before theouter and excessive degree of pressure is brought to bear thereon. Itshould be remembered in this connection that it is deemed important inthe making of high-class golf-balls of the character referred to thateven the middle portion of the core shall be homogeneous with the outerportions thereof and that the rubber in the middle portions shallconsist of material which is at the same time drawn tense, close to thelimit of elasticity, and is then subjected to heavy external pressure bythe many superposed windings of rubber similarly conditioned.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 repre- 1 l s l l l l l l l sents a golf-ball, showing a form ofembodimcntof the present improvement. The ball is shown partly inelevation and partly in central sect-ion. Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof a strip of elastic material prepared with the preliminarystep-namely, the massing together of the material; and Fig. 3 is aperspective View showing the first convolution of the elastic stripabout themassed-together material.

In accordance with my present improvement in beginning the winding ofthe strip 8 I prepare the strip, which is preferably of the tapered formillustrated, by forming a hard relatively taut drawn knot 7 in one endthereof, which serves the double purpose of constituting a smallneucleus on which to begin the winding of the strip and at the same timeconstitutes a gripping clement integral with the strip, whereby toobtain the resistance necessary for stretching the strip close to theknot for getting that part of the rubber under high tension at the timeit is wound. The winding being thus begun, as at 9, under high tensionis then readily accomplished or continued and is here indicated in ageneral way by 10 until the entire strip is wound up to form the core11. In this connection it should also be remembered that it isparticularly necessary that the entire core should be formed of a singlecontinuous strip of rubber, for one reason, among others, that it isvery important to avoid making any part of the core of rubber that isnot in a condition both tense and under pressure, thus avoiding anylocal areas in the core in which the rubber may have a lesser aggregateresilient power than in other parts of the finished core. Such a defectwould, it is well known, tend to destroy the reliability and efiiciencyof the linished ball, which will have a suitable shell or cover 12, andimpair the aim or direction of the flight of the same.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. That improvementin the art of making golf-balls which consists in tensely bindingtogether a portion of a strip of'thin elastic material and then tenselywinding said strip about the same.

2. That improvement in the art of making 5. A playing-ball having a corecomprised of a rubber strip tensely Wound about a hard 5 knot tied inthe end of the strip.

6. A playing-ball having a core comprised of a strip of elastic materialtensely wound about an integral center piece composed of tensed andbound portions of the strip.

Signed at Nos. 9 to 15 Murray street, New York. N. Y., this 26th day ofAugust, 1905.

EDWARD F. ROSS.

\Nitnesses:

CHAS. LYON RUSSELL, CHESTER A. W'EED.

